Indy, and it was an incredible experience. When we pulled up to the
raceway, we could hear the F1 cars out for morning practice. That was a
spiritual moment. :-) Then once we got inside I got to hear them up
close for the first time ever. I stood on a grass mound in the infield
overlooking the final turns. If you haven't heard them in real life, TV
and the computer sims do not do those beasts justice. It was incredible,
all I could do was stand there with a stupid grin on my face.
It was wild to see just how *** Ferrari is. You watch the laps
progress from the same vantage and you just see this huge gap opening up
between the Ferrari's and the rest of the field. It was neat to see the
gap open up in real time. And it was cool to see the draft passes.
Qualifying was exciting, too; I sat down at turn one and you could tell
they were pushing hard. I got to see some historic F1 cars up-close and
in the parade, as well as a good Porsche Supercup race with a crazy start
(two GT3's sandwhich another, causing it to pop up into the air, almost
like Ralf at Australia.) I also saw the Sarah Fisher/McLaren F1 demo.
It's too bad they didn't let her open it up but at least she didn't spin
it, eh?
Etc etc etc. Basically, even if you aren't a big fan of modern F1, you
should definately check a race out if you have the opportunity. There is
no substitute for hearing those engines and seeing that speed for real.
But I bet this is old hat to most of you guys. :-) Me, I'm still stoked
several days after.
Despite the usual Ferrari sillyness at the finish (which really didn't
bother me, I consider it payback for Austria), I had an absolute blast
and I plan to go again next year.
I've put up a gallery with some of the pictures I took. Most of these
were taken with a Canon Elph S110 digital camera. It's not the ideal
camera for this type of action photography, but I got some neat stuff I
think. The last 6 shots were taken by my friend with his Sony Mavica.
http://www.racesimcentral.net/